My brother gave me a call last night. He was getting ready for a boy scout outing with my nephew this weekend. My brother is the acting scout master for his son's troop. He called because he was thinking of me and our scouting days.
My brother is four years older than I am. When he graduated from our boy scout troop our troop went down hill. The scouts who were about my age never grew into a leadership roll. None of us really cared about becoming eagle scouts. We enjoyed hanging out with each other. When we could do that outside of the context of boy scouts, being boy scouts become less important.
Looking back at things I think my laziness let down other scouts. I really did not want to be a leader. I wanted other people to take care of things. I did not want to organize trip or set up summer camp. In part I was worried that where I lead, no one would follow.
Looking back I think that a good troop needs to have a core of senior scouts who want to be Eagle Scouts. We had this when I was junior scout. We did not have this when I was supposed to be one of the leaders of the troop. I think that scouts that want to be eagle scouts need to learn to lead to achieve their goal.
If there are any former or current scouts out there, tell me what you think. My idea on scouting have about 20 years of rust on them. I could have this totally wrong.
Labels: boy scouts, family, personal history, sean
